Nizar Trabelsi
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nizar ben Abdelaziz Trabelsi | ||
| Date of birth | July 2, 1970 | ||
| Place of birth | Tunisia | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1989 - 1990 | Fortuna Düsseldorf | 0 | (0) |
| Total | 0 | (0) | |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). | |||
Nizar ben Abdelaziz Trabelsi (Arabic: نزار بن عبد العزيز الطرابلسي, born 2 July 1970) is a Tunisian and former professional football player. As a footballer, Trabelsi had joined and played both in Fortuna Düsseldorf and Wuppertal football clubs in Germany.[1] In 2003, he was convicted as terrorist and sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for his association with Al-Qaida, and for plotting to attack US targets including American soldiers stationed at the Belgian airbase Kleine Brogel.[1]
Controversy
Trabelsi had traveled to Afghanistan and met Osama bin Laden on several occasions. In 2001, Trabelsi was suspected of planning the US embassy terrorist attack in Paris which was uncovered and stopped.[1] He is said to be the designated suicide bomber, and was to wear a business suit to conceal the strapped bomb onto himself before walking into the embassy.[2]
Trabelsi was arrested in an apartment, in Uccle near Brussels, Belgium on 13 September 2001. He was also implicated by Briton Saajid Badat, who alleged that both of them had conspired with Richard Reid supposedly to blow up two US-bound airliners using shoe bombs simultaneously.
Conviction
In 2003, Trabelsi was sentenced to a 10-year prison term in Belgium.[1] He was also found guilty of illegal weapons possession and being a member in a private militia. On October 3, 2013 he was extradited to the United States.[3]
After twelve years in custody, he is now being held in Washington D.C. without bond. [4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 BBC News (2007-12) Belgium frees jailbreak suspects, December 22, 2007.
- ↑ CNN News (2001-10-26). Thwarting terror cells in Europe The CNN Website, retrieved April 21, 2008
- ↑ "Nizar Trabelsi uitgeleverd aan de VS - De Standaard". Standaard.be. 2013-09-23. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
- ↑ http://transparentpolicy.org/2013/10/alleged-al-qaeda-member-extradited-united-states/#more-1546
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